ALL THAT RIGHT STUFF

The national political director for the Republicans
showed up for the state convention here to promise that
the party's top leadership is committed to resurrecting
all of the state parties.

He could hardly have found a better place to try.

For the Delaware Republicans, they have been like a
party caught in quicksand. The more they struggle to get
themselves out, the deeper they get themselves in.

They are a party that has sunk to one statewide
official with Tom Wagner, the state auditor, who was
introduced drolly as "he who stands alone," as well as
to the minority in the General Assembly and to a
120,000-voter deficit to the Democrats in the
registration rolls.

A lot of it dates back to the candidacy of
you-know-who.

As if the political gods wanted to make that very
point, Mike Castle showed up for the part of the
convention held Friday night at the Chase Center on the
Riverfront, while Christine O'Donnell showed up for the
part held Saturday at the DoubleTree hotel in downtown
Wilmington.

Even though the speakers preached unity, unity,
unity, this was a convention baring some cleavage.

It was there not just in the separate Castle and
O'Donnell sightings, but in the convention's prime
purpose of electing a slate of party officers for the
next two years.

Although John Sigler, the state chair running for a
second term, had no opposition, and neither did the
candidates for treasurer or secretary, the election for
vice chair became another one of those unhelpful
showdowns between the regular party and the tea party.

Ruth Briggs King, a state representative from Sussex
County, was the candidate out of the regular party. As
Greg Lavelle, the Senate minority whip who nominated
her, said, "Ruth knows we need to add legislators to the
Delaware General Assembly by defeating Democrats."

Nelly Jordan, a local party official from Sussex
County, was the candidate out of the tea party. In her
platform, she said, "Our candidates and state officers
appreciate us greatly until 'We The People' attempt to
enter state leadership positions. This is where I come
in. My name is Nelly Jordan, and I am one of you, 'We
The People.'"

The vote was not even close. The tea party made more
inroads, as the convention delegates went for Jordan by
158-132.

The tea party also prevailed when it beat back a
proposed rule change that in the interest of efficiency
would have automatically designated the state chair and
state secretary as the convention officers in most
cases, instead of subjecting them to a committee vote
first.

The tea party was having none of it. "We the people
should hold the reins. You give away this, and you give
away that, and what's the sense of having a convention?"
said Tom Jordan, a Sussex County delegate who is the
husband of the new vice chair.

The convention did have its lighter moments. Lavelle
probably had the line of the day when he cracked to the
delegates, "I assured a little bit earlier Wilmington
City Council member and proud Republican Party member
Mike Brown that if there are any tussles in here today,
we will not be contacting the state police."

This was, of course, a not-so-subtle reference to
Brown's call for an investigation into what brought
Elmer Setting, the New Castle County police chief, into
Wilmington when the city police had jurisdiction over a
scuffle involving David Grimaldi, the chief
administrative officer for Tom Gordon, the Democratic
county executive.

There was also a memorable double entendre delivered
by Sigler, probably unintentionally, but who knows? Just
minutes after Christine O'Donnell arrived at the
convention, he announced it was time to elect the party
officers.